Summary
- Hyperkin has kicked off CES 2025 by revealing a new controller for Xbox and PC called The Competitor.
- The Competitor looks a lot like the PS5’s DualSense, right down to the black-and-white color scheme and clear buttons.
- It also has symmetrical thumbsticks which sets it apart from most other Xbox controllers.
The differences between each new Xbox and PlayStation console are so minimal at this point that anything that potentially makes one better than the other can seriously contribute to it winning the generation. This gen, the DualSense is one of the biggest differences between the PS5 and the Xbox Series X, and now Xbox has a DualSense of its own. Well, kind of.
CES 2025 is underway which means a lot of video game hardware and accessories will be revealed over the next few days. Hyperkin has kicked off its CES week by revealing The Competitor (thanks, IGN), a controller not only named as such because it has been designed with competitive play in mind, but also because it’s an Xbox controller that looks, and likely feels, a lot like the PS5’s DualSense.
Related
It’s 2025 And Hyperkin Just Released A New Guitar Hero Controller For The Wii
Someone must have been asking for this, right?
Just to be clear, Hyperkin is a third-party controller, so even though this is specifically designed with Xbox and PC in mind, it isn’t a controller created by Xbox. It would have been a far more controversial creation had that been the case due to the similarities between the designs of the Competitor and the DualSense. Not only its black and white color scheme, but the d-pad and analog sticks are almost identical, and the face buttons would be too if they didn’t need to have Xbox letters on them instead of PlayStation shapes.
Hyperkin Has Revealed An Xbox Controller That Looks A Lot Like A DualSense
Introducing The Competitor, Ladies And Gentlemen
Speaking of the sticks, aside from the fact the controller appears to have been made to look like a DualSense, the biggest difference between it and a regular Xbox controller is the placement of the sticks. They’re not asymmetrical like they are on regulation Xbox controllers. Handy for those who are used to playing games on PlayStation or jump between a PlayStation and an Xbox and having to deal with the difference in stick placement when you do bothers you.
The downside to The Competitor is it doesn’t have haptic feedback or adaptive triggers, arguably the two features that set the DualSense apart. However, it does have something the DualSense doesn’t – hall effect sticks and triggers. Hall effect sticks use magnetic parts that provide consistent resistance and, perhaps more importantly considering the issues in recent years, make controllers far less likely to drift. Here’s hoping the Nintendo‘s next Joy-Con, images of which appear to have leaked over the weekend, use hall effect tech to avoid any drift lawsuits during its next-gen.
Next
Atari’s Re-Revealed Handheld Console Comes With A Trak-Ball, Paddle, And Keypad
Atari is still releasing a handheld console, as promised, and it is loaded with features perfect for playing some of its best games.